The explosive developments in medical treatment relating to drugs have created a costly and high risk drug management environment for the patient. A 1995 study published in the “Archives of Internal Medicine” estimates that $76 billion is spent each year in the U.S. on extra doctor visits and hospitalization because people do not take their medication properly. In addition, a 1999 study by the National Academy of Science, Institute of Medicine, describes errors made in the hospitals which threaten patient's health. The study estimated that 98,000 patients die each year because of medical mistakes. Prescription drug errors are one of the major areas where mistakes are made.
Unit-dose blister type packaging for prescription drugs is one of the fastest growing package formats and is projected to be at 40% penetration in the U.S. market by 2003. Blister packages are already the dominant prescription drug package format in Europe with 85% penetration. Some of the reasons behind this growing use of blister packaging are: (i) product integrity being maintained throughout out the drug life cycle, (ii) better product protection to insure quality and efficacy of the drug, (iii) better tamper evidencing and child resistance, and (iv) improved patient compliance in that unit-dose blister packaging gives patents a clearly marked individual dosage.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system that incorporates unit dose blister-type packaging and improves the safety, compliance and cost of prescription drugs and over-the-counter drugs in the hospital and at home.
It is a further object of the present invention to improve the ability of the pharmaceutical industry to acquire information regarding the real world usage of medications.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be made clear from the description and drawings below.